Land Donations

Abstract

Land donations are frequently attested in the written record of ancient Egypt. Used by the king asa means to recompense and honor high dignitaries, civil servants, and temples, they were in no waya royal prerogative. Private individuals also donated land both to temples and royal statues, whichappears to have been a social and economic strategy to strengthen their links with the monarchyand with powerful patrons. In other cases, enough evidence reveals that such donations sought topreserve individual patrimonies from the interference of their owners' kin. Temples figure at thecore of land donations, especially as beneficiaries of the king's largesse and of private endowments;their position as local centers of power and authority and their role as heads of patronage networksexplain why they received so many donations of land during the Third Intermediate Period andunder the Saite rule, when political insecurity and state rebuilding made them privileged tools forthe protection of the patrimonies of the elite.